Hoses are often connected to fittings, such as cam and groove fittings, that require that a clamp or band is secured around the hose to secure the hose to the fitting. One example of such a hose to fitting connection is on the end of a water transfer hose.
A typical hose clamp includes a band that is formed into a loop or circle and a seal that holds the loop. The seal encircles the overlapped courses of band. To secure the band onto the hose, a tail end of the band is bent up against the edge of the seal (forming a J-seal) and is cut just beyond the J-seal.
One known tool is described and disclosed in Marelin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,726 and includes a screw actuated drive which can be fitted to a hand-held drill. One drawback to such a device is that the tool requires the user to hammer the seal closed and to return a gripper portion to a home position to remove the band and to tension a subsequent band.
Another tool is a manual tool in which a lead screw is used to facilitate tensioning. In this tool, again, there is no way in which to determine whether proper tension has been reached. In addition, if the lead screw has been fully threaded but tension has not yet been reached, the gripper has to be reset to complete tensioning.
Other tools have limited take up and/or can only be used in low tension systems.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tensioner/cutter for hose clamps or hose banding tools. Desirably, such a tool can tension the band around the hose with unlimited take-up, form the J-seal and cut the tail end of the band at the seal. More desirably, such a tool provides a consistent tension and provides an easy to use cutting movement. More desirably still, such a tool can be portable or bench mounted and can be powered by battery or supplied AC. Still more desirably, such a tool can include a foot pedal or other device that isolates power unless depressed or actuated.